David goes to the Dentist

My colleague Steve showed me this video today. I'm pretty sure this may be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. This kid is going to have an AWESOME video to show at his wedding.

And, to tie this back into what I normally write about, here's a great remix of this video that had me cracking up. One of the things I've noticed about youtube is that there is very little content that gets popular and isn't ripped off by other people. Just look at how many people have already reposted the video of this guy's kid for instance. It's a little creepy in this case, but it shows that there are a lot of people out there who want to jump on a great idea or humorous video and attempt to take advantage of the popularity by claiming it as there own. Of course, in retrospect, that's a lot of what I do here. As I write about the random, loosely related topics that all revolve around social media and design, I continue to take other ideas that I find intriguing and promote them. On one hand the writing remains purely mine. The creative spin, the questions and the sometimes funny statements are of my imagination. But the subject matter is not mine, and the topics I discuss deserve the credit for their involvement. (while I strongarm them into giving it to me via the uncontrollable interwebs!)

In all seriousness though, that's what I appreciate about the remix video. It's rare to find something that really strikes me as funny on youtube. A lot of people may not appreciate this video, and that's fine. It's pretty clear that the kid is not feeling well, and I wouldn't care to comment on how appropriate it is for me to 1) find it funny and 2) propagate the video. BUT. It's even rarer to find one of those people out there who repurposes material and takes it the next step. This remix does that.

It's a lot like the way that design culture has a long history of image appropriation from Warhol to Lichtenstein, from DuChamp to Shepard Fairey. There is a lot of criticism revolving around those artists for appropriating work, and a lot of people claim that it's stolen. I think, however, that the artists often give a subliminal tip of the hat to the artists they appropriated from by establishing just how strong the original images are and how culturally significant they have become. Whether it's a Brillo box, a comic book, the Mona Lisa or a poster from the WPA, we're surrounding by meaningful and significant images that frame our culture and can bring an extra layer of meaning to new visual statements.

While a relatively sophomoric remix of a kid doped up on nox isn't the most culturally significant piece of media in our age, it has the ability to reveal the strength of messages in new media when done well. I hope this writing can serve that function as well.